Comparison of Web Hosting Providers for New Bloggers + Our Top 3 Picks

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Looking for web hosting providers for your new blog and not sure where to start? If you’re new to blogging and want to start a profitable blog, there are a few essentials you need to understand when chosing a web hosting provider.

The first thing to understand is the difference between a domain name and web hosting.

Domain Name

Think of a domain name being sort of like the street address of your home. It allows people to locate your actual residence. That’s what your domain name accomplishes by allowing someone to locate you on the World Wide Web (www).

Domain names are what form the basis of a website’s URL. The URL is the address to a specific blog or page on your website.

Domain names are unique. They are alpha-numeric and cannot contain spaces. The only other symbol that is permitted is a hyphen or dash “-“. This is an important trick to know because many domain names have already been registered. You might want mydomain.com but chances are it has already been registered by someone else. Whereas my-domain.com may be available.

Chosing a domain name that represents you and your blog is an important first step! If you are able to find a domain name that includes your key words, that is beneficial to your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Finding a good domain name that is available is difficult, so once you’ve found domain name you like, it is important to register it so that someone else doesn’t register it before you do.

I’ll explain how to register a domain name after I explain a bit about web hosting, as they often go together!

Web Hosting

Web hosting or hosting space can then be understood to be like your actual house. It is your living space. It contains rooms and the contents of your home. It provides you a with a place you can invite people into. A place you can share content and ideas, conversations and products. A place to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee.

All of these rooms and contents live on a server. Hosting companies provide access to server space, where you can set-up your website. Since most people don’t require dedicated servers for their websites, opting to contract the services of a hosting company is often the preferred route when setting up a WordPress Blog.

Clear on the difference? Good!

Next you need to know what you’re wanting to do with your blog!

Do you want to Make Money Blogging?

There are “free” platforms that you can build your website on. WordPress.com is one of them. However, if you are thinking of starting a profitable blog and making money while you blog, we will need to register with a hosting provider. In this case, WordPress.org is the option you’ll want to look into. And you’ll need to find a hosting provider or web host where your website can take up residence!

Starting a Profitable Blog

So, assuming that you are wanting to make money blogging, let’s look at hosting providers or web hosting companies.

The first place to start is with registering that perfect domain name that you’ve chosen! The good news is that with so much competition for your business, hosting companies usually include the registration of first domain name for FREE when you purchase hosting space from them.

That leads us to choosing a Web Hosting service – which can be pretty confusing because of the massive number of hosting companies out there.

Before we tell you which one we use, let’s look at a few more considerations.

Consider Purchasing a Multi-Year Plan

It’s important to be aware that all of these companies offer discounted rates on your INITIAL purchase only. What might cost a few dollars per month to start can eventually rise to an average of around $10 USD per month once (up to as much as $20 USD). So it’s good to be aware of what subsequent years will cost you!

As a result, it might be wise to consider purchasing multiple years at the time you open your account. Most allow you to purchase up to 3 years. This will allow you to take advantage of the reduced price and save you money over the long run!

What about all the Add-ons

From the chart below you’ll see that services and prices are comparable.

They all offer a wide range of add-ons which you’ll be presented with once you click through to register.

However, if you’re just starting out, most of these will be unnecessary. We recommend you uncheck them as the price can add up quickly. All of them can be added at a later date should you need them.

One add-on you might want to consider SiteLock or similar malware scanning services. Because there’s nothing that will scare away your ideal reader and audience quicker than malware warnings popping up when they visit your site.

Our Top 3 Web Hosting Picks

BlueHost, Dot5Hosting and GoDaddy are all well-respected and trusted service providers. In the end it doesn’t likely matter too much which one you decide on. They all have good customer service ratings and will serve your needs as you start your adventure into blogging! All 3 are WordPress friendly and offer easy installation tools for getting your WP blog started.

If you are only planning on setting up one website, BlueHost Basic is a good option as it’s a bit cheaper. But you are limited to a single site. Otherwise, if you think there is a chance you might want to set-up another site, then BlueHost Prime is the way to go for your initial purchase.

GoDaddy also has multiple plans to choose from and you’ll want to be sure you go with the Managed WordPress plan if you’re just starting out your blogging career.

Note: if you choose GoDaddy as your hosting company be aware that they offer Windows hosting plans as well as LINUX web server hosting plans. If you’re a Windows PC user don’t be confused into thinking that you need to select the Windows hosting plan as it has nothing to do with your own personal computer. In fact, we recommend you stick with LINUX which is the standard for webservers across the internet. Opting for the Windows plan will complicate your ability to use WordPress, so best to avoid it.

In the end, we preferred the simple presentation of Dot5Hosting who offer a single plan which offers UNLIMITED EVERYTHING! And because of positive past experiences with them and their high level of customer service.

Frank is husband to Grace and our coffee drinking jack-of-all-trades! He is a technology junkie and escapes with a good movie. Gazing up at the stars, sharing a cigar and conversation with God, is where you'll find him on a clear, quiet night.

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